Pre-Ramble:

My experience with earthquakes while living in California is enough to help me understand how truly devastating Japan’s 9.0 quake was … even without the tsunami or the threat of nuclear radiation.  Unfathomable. 

As I unpack my crinkled travel clothes and run my mindless errands, I can’t help but think about the faces on the front page these past several days.  These photos of the horrific event are certainly real, but they don’t resonate with anything resembling familiar … There is no category in my mental filing system to put them, so the images just keep bouncing around in my mind.

Children cowering under spigots of water, rinsing off who knows what.  Elderly women sitting on steps staring vacantly out.  Dubious plumes of steam rising into the sky. Hunched figures searching over piles of snarled debris.  What can they possibly hope to find there? 

The Take-Away:  I suspect that people all over the world can feel the aftershocks of the scenario in Japan.  In another circumstance, I would delight in sassy insights and flip remarks, but here, this situation commands nothing but respect and reverence.  

I’ll deliver my chirpy blog post on Twitter another day.

Pre-Ramble:

The Take-Away:  Ho-ho-ho! Cheers to your Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!